Sennheiser E835

traveen

New member
Anyone have experience with these mics? Good bad or otherwise??

After tons of shopping online, I decided I could not buy a vocal mic w/o hearing it first. But I did research a lot of them and asked a lot of questions. Finally, I grabbed our lead singer and told her to choose. My price point was $100 each or less. After trying many, we ended up with two Sennheiser E835's. I was even able to talk them down in price.. $89 US

They seemed as quiet as an SM58 Cc handling and mic stand noice, and they sounded good with her voice. I hate spending money but hope they will last a long time.
 
I think they're great, and for you, particularly so. Here's why. They have the high end that Shure hadn't learned how to do when they started making SM58s. A 58 may sound great for a bloke (although I can't say I ever really like them except for occasionally on my own voice), but for a female singer they will just make her sound like she's singing through a sock.

Paul White (Editor of Sound on Sound) reckons the E835 is a little like a 58 with the bottom rolled off a bit and all the top end added in.

I did sound for a gig on Saturday night and took my Sennheisers down. I ended up using an E845 for the female lead vocalist and an E835 for the male backing singer. I used them instead of their own far more expensive Audio Technica AE3300 stage condensers, which I found to have uncontrollable proximity effect both in terms of bottom end boom and variance in output over a very small movement range.

Here's that Sound on Sound review:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug...html?session=0c3219c40e848c70c70a3de089c5f3ad
 
I really like these mics. They are more open sounding than a '58 and have more high end. I think they are really great when you have one of those screaming guys that like to cup the mic. It handles that really well.
 
I tried one of these for the first time this past saturday. Our drummer brought one in for a try-out.

I'm not a big fan of Sm58's on my voice because I don't like proximity effect. So I ususally use a '57 for live vocals.

We compared the Sennheiser 835 to a '57 and '58. While the difference wasn't night and day, I did prefer the Sennheiser for my vocals. It had crisp, almost "condenser like" highs, and wasn't too heavy on the proximity effect. The '57 had a little more low-end, but was also muddy compared to the 835. I've seen people singing the praises of these mics for a while, and I guess now I'm one of them.

For budget conscious home recordists starting from scratch, I'm speculating that this mic might do double duty as an acoustic guitar mic as well.
 
The (female) singer in our band uses an E835 and I think it sounds great. I once did a side-by-side comparison with an SM58. Both mics going into separate channels on the same mixer with a flat EQ and the same amount of gain. I could hardly tell a difference (admittedly the PA was pretty crappy, not something you would want to make critical audio decisions). But I would agree with the observations that E835 is a little more open on top. Having said that, I would say they are more similar than different. She's used that mic for probably 5 years, by the way, so I wouldn't worry about it "lasting."

The only time I've tried it for recording was using it as a small tom mic and on the kick beater (I was desperate for another mic!). It failed miserably in both applications.

Cheers!
 
The other guitar player in my band uses one for vocals. It sounds pretty good, but I like my Audix OM2 better. Better feedback rejection and louder volume.
 
Cool, thanks for the info everyone. We do have a female singer and maybe that's what she liked, but I also like a crisp high end. I have very good hearing in the upper ranges and need it defined for me to be happy.
 
i have 2 e835's (one with a switch) and i love them. i also have 2 sm58s and 3 shure 545's (pre-57's). i prefer the 835 on my voice--and i've never like the 58 on my voice. i also tend to prefer the 835 on guitar amps and snare drum, mainly b/c of that high end that others have talked about.

given the choice between 835s and 58s, i'll take the 835's any day, hands down.


cheers,
wade
 
I prefer the 835 to an SM58 on my voice any day. I can also get them a lot cheaper than an SM57 or 58, even though the advertised price is about the same. AKG D770 is an underated mic that sounds different from either of the other two. D770 is a wonderful cab mic and is good on toms and snares. A real deal to look for.- check ebay for old used AKG D320 and 330 series mics. They are among the best used dynamics, bang for buck. My D320B is a lot like a Sennheiser MD421- difference- I got it for $45 on ebay. No one respects old AKG dynamics much, except the D12 kick mic, but the Beatles, and a lot of other people, did. Because they are often underated, older AKG's are some of the best buys in used handheld dynamics.-Richie
 
For live stuff the 835 is great. It may not be the best for feedback / noise rejection (see posts above) but it is still quite good. It's also very sturdy. The grille can take drumsticks without any problem. Pour wine on it and it'll still be intact the next day. For live use the switch is a must, IMHO.

However for recording situations where phantom power is available, I would personally spend $50 more and get a used CAD E-100. It's a condenser and looks a lot like an AKG 414. It sounds great, has amazing low end (unlike the e835), and it's more sensitive off-axis. If your singer tilts her head or bops about as she sings, she'll be better off with a large diaphragm IMHO.

But if you don't have phantom power, or if bottom end isn't important, etc, the e835 works for recording, and doubles as a pretty good mic for drum overheads or close micing cymbals / hihat / etc.

Cheers,

Johann
 
These mics were just for live stuff, I have a condenser mics for most recording things. Sometimes I use the "wrong" mic just to see what happens, but 3 out of 4 of my live mics had issues, so I needed to replace them.
 
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